618 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



nati. Now, however, he reports more than 

 an average crop, and over 100 lbs. to the col- 

 ony ; and so it seems to be the world over. 



Or Department for duties to be attended to 

 tills moil til. 



'ELL, bees not fed for winter are now 

 to be attended to at once ; and the 

 question is asked, season after sea- 

 son, " How can we do it with the least 

 trouble, and without danger from robbingV" 

 1 notice that Doolittle, in the A. B. /., rec- 

 ommends taking combs out of the hive that 

 are to be fed, and laying them in a deep dish 

 or tub, and pouring honey into the cells with 

 a coffee-pot or any thing that will make a 

 hne stream. The syrup is to be poured a 

 foot or more, or else it will not displace the 

 air in the combs. \Vhen the comb is pretty 

 well filled on one side, it is turned over and 

 filled on the other ; then hung in a comb- 

 bucket or other receptacle until the combs 

 have ceased dripping. Now they can be put 

 where needed, and a comb filled with thick 

 syrup is almost as good as a comb full of 

 sealed stores. The syrup may be made quite 

 thick for this purpose. Fill every comb in 

 the hive as full as it can be, and they will 

 probably have enough for winter. Lriend 

 D. remarks that this dispenses with feeders; 

 and after you are done, you are done, and 

 have no loose traps to gather up. 



Where one has 100 or more colonies to 

 feed, it is quite a nuisance as well as an ex- 

 pense to be obliged to have a feeder for each 

 hive, and, after you are through with them, 

 to store them away for another season. Now, 

 all this is true, and I like the plan very much 

 in some respects ; but in other respects I 

 do not. 



For instance. We have now a compara- 

 tively new hand in charge of our bees, for 

 the boys have gone to college ; and should I 

 direct him to feed our bees for winter in 

 this way, I hardly think I could instruct 

 him in such a manner that we should not 

 Jiave a perfect uproar of robbing before he 

 was half through. The principal obstacle 

 with us would be to get the bees all off the 

 combs before the combs can be filled with 

 syrup, it is true, we might take other 

 combs ; but even then we shall have to get 

 as many out of the hives as we put in ; and 

 to do tnis would incite robbing, and prove 

 quite a task. Our bees are mostly on the 

 combs where we wish them, and the combs 

 are arranged as we wish them ; and for me 

 it is least trouble to feed them syrup in a 

 feeder until the combs are filled and bridged, 

 just as they will remain till spring. 



In regard to feeders, the bread-pan feeder 

 is perhaps the cheapest and the simplest, 

 were it not that bees are apt to get drowned 

 in them, unless especial care is taken ; and 

 they also work slowly in cool weather. The 

 pepper-box feeder is more trouble, but the 

 bees will empty them, even during cool 

 weather, for they can be inverted right over 

 the cluster, and the space around them fixed 



warm with a mat and cushion. The Good 

 candy, made into little biscuits, and laid 

 right over the cluster, works nicely, and the 

 bees take it all up very quickly. The only 

 objection is the trouble of kneading the pul- 

 verized sugar and honey up so as to make the 

 biscuits, and also the extra expense of pow- 

 dered sugar over the granulated. 



I rather think we shall do what feeding 

 we are obliged to do, with a pepper-box feed- 

 er this way, and we are going to give the 

 (iood candy a pretty fair trial. Perhaps I 

 might add, that the phm of filling combs 

 was given a great many years ago by Mr. 

 Quinby, but I can not learn that it has ever 

 been used very generally. 



$dm and %mm§. 



THINK yoti will rejoice with me. I can report 

 Jt[[ lfi,000 lbs. of honey, nearly all extracted, and 

 beautiful quality. Was in hopes to get some 

 fall honey, but a severe drought prevents. 

 Hartford, N. Y., Sept. 9, 1883. J. H. Martin. 



I took 10,000 lbs. of comb honey and 4000 extracted 

 this season. J. B. Kapp. 



Owensville, O., Sept. 1, 1883. 



Send me a crate of Clark smokers, and I will whip 

 those hybrids, or die in smoke. W. S. BiioOKS. 



Conshohocken, Pa., Aug. 6, 1883. 



I had 30 colonies in fall of 1883; 29 in spring of 1883; 

 46 in fall of 1883; 508 tts. comb honey, 700 of extract- 

 ed, and 45 H>s. of beeswax. J. R. Crooks. 



Keiths, Noble Co., Ohio, Sept. 15, 1883. 



Bees have done fairly well in this locality this sea- 

 son. Heavy frosts last night and night before. 

 Comb honey in small sections, $14 00 per hundred; 

 ext, $10.00 do. J. Y. Kezartee. 



Ceresco, Michigan. 



EFFECT OF COOL AVEATHER ON HONEY-STORINO. 



We have bad two weeks of very cold weather here, 

 and all work in boxes has stopped dead still. The 

 weather is more favorable for a day or two back, 

 but cold yet. Geo. E. Ddffin. 



Galesville, Wis., Aug. 11, 1883. 



Our bees have done well since the 10th of Aug. I 

 shall average over 100 lbs. to the colony, spring 

 count. We can beat the most of them, on the "home 

 stretch," any way. If weather keeps good, I shall 

 get honey till 10th of Oct. E. W. Pitzeu. 



Hillsdale, Mills Co., la., Sept. 15, 1883. 



FROM 8 TO 27, AND 717 LBS. OF HONEY. 



My report for this year is as follows: Spring count, 

 8 swarms; 2 were queenless ; they had to raise their 

 own queens. Built these 8 swarms up to 27 ; ex- 

 tracted 693 lbs. of honey, and had 34 lbs. of comb 

 honey. I have on hand 35 frames of good sealed 

 clover honey to keep for next spring's feeding. 



Wm. Leitz. 



Hurti^f ord, Dodge Co., Wis., Sept. 10, 1883. 



FROM 3 TO 11, AND 500 LBS. HONEY. 



My report for this summer is as follows: Started 

 with 3 swarms ; increased to 11 strong swarms, with 

 ample stores, and 500 lbs. of as nice comb honey 

 as I ever saw — basswood and white-clover ; no fall 



